New Madison baseball team may not carry city's name on jerseys

The baseball team will play its games in Madison at a multi-use stadium anchoring a mixed-use development known as Town Madison. And all this in Madison County.

But the baseball team that will play in a $46 million stadium funded entirely by city of Madison taxpayers may not have "Madison" on its jerseys.

It's even possible that while Madison pays for the stadium, the team will be known as Huntsville.

While the team is holding a contest to come up with a nickname, the identifier will primarily be most influenced by economics and branding, according to Madison Mayor Paul Finley and team owner Ralph Nelson.

At its core, the baseball team is a business enterprise with the intention of making money. And if giving the team an identifier that's more financially lucrative than "Madison," city officials and taxpayers may have to swallow a little civic pride for the betterment of the bottom line.

"Whatever makes sense," Finley said. "In the contract, we negotiated 'Madison.' But we also are smart enough to realize that it's a community team and if they come up with a name that makes the most sense, we won't have any problems supporting that."

It would seem that "Madison" would be the favored identifier - Nelson said there will be "a lot of deference" to Madison taxpayers - but the final decision will focus on what's most profitable from a branding perspective.

On the website (NorthAlabamaBaseball.com) where the community can suggest nicknames for the team that will begin play in Madison in 2020, the first question asks fans which identifier it recommends. The choices, listed on the website in alphabetical order: Alabama, Huntsville, Madison, North Alabama, Tennessee Valley.

And if this seems bizarre - quibbling over the identifier of a team that may seem an obvious decision - it's actually not.

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs in Pennsylvania finished sixth nationally in season attendance in 2016 and were among the nation's leaders in merchandise sales. The team plays its games in Allentown - a city with more than twice as many people as Madison, yet is not a part of the team's identity.

That's what team and city officials are striving for - to make their caps and shirts hot marketing items.

Even within the Southern League - the Double-A organization of which the Madison team will be a member - two of the league's 10 teams have identifiers that are different from the city where they play their home games. And both teams are similar to Madison in that they play in suburban stadiums.

The Mississippi Braves play in Pearl, whose city limits is about 1 mile from the state's largest city of Jackson. And the Tennessee Smokies play in Kodak, a small town of less than 10,000 people but sandwiched between the state's third largest city (Knoxville) and the popular tourist Smoky Mountain National Park gateway of Sevierville and Gatlinburg.

Then there is the case of the historical Birmingham Barons, who maintained their big-city identifier even while playing 26 years at the Hoover Met in suburban Hoover.

Of course, the best decision of 2018 may be determined not to be the best decision in the future. Another team in the Southern League, the Jackson, Tenn. Generals, were created in 1998 as the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx. In 2011, the struggling team with dwindling attendance took on the identifier of its home city and changed its nickname.

It hasn't helped much, though, in drawing more people to the ballpark. Jackson has finished next-to-last in attendance in the Southern League for the past four years - better only than the Mobile BayBears, which is the team Nelson purchased and will move to Madison in 2020.

"We're having a big conversation about the identifier," Nelson said. "The people of Madison, the investment is going to pay off in a lot of ways. The people of Madison are spending $46 million to build this stadium. So there's a conversation that it's got to be called the Madison whatevers. But the mayor there is savvy enough to say look, if we find out we're going to do better as a business calling it something else...so we're asking the fans. What do you want the identifier to be? Should it be North Alabama? Should it be Alabama? Should it be Tennessee Valley? Huntsville-Madison, Madison-Huntsville?

"There has to be a lot of deference paid to the taxpayers for footing the bill here. But the one thing we won't do is we won't do anything impetuously."

That's where Brandiose comes in. The San Diego-based marketing firm has made its name by working with organizations with some of the most distinctive nicknames in minor league baseball - from the Richmond Flying Squirrels to the Casper Ghosts to the aforementioned Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Brandiose has also worked with the BayBears as well as the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, another Southern League team.

"Brandiose is working for us and they're going to oversee this thing," Nelson said. "They're going to meet with Paul Finley, meet with a focus group, go over the nominations and start to whittle down. The branding is critical to us. The days of naming your team the Stars, the Rockets or the Bears, those days are gone."

So while it's not Madison or bust, the hometown carries a lot of clout into the conversation, Finley said.

"If you're going to invest $46 million, you better have first right of refusal," Finley said. "That's what we have. We're also ... I'm a marketing guy. We want to sell hats. We want to sell shirts. That makes the city money. What I want, though, is an investment from this community where it's their team.

"Right now, the name is something to me that's less important than the investment. So we'll work with them. We've hired a professional organization to name it. Let's see what we get. I think we'll get something that, in turn, defines who this area is - whether it's 'Madison' or 'Tennessee Valley' and give everybody a chance to feel like it's their team."